-
Have you ever found yourself stuck in a loop, focusing on what’s wrong instead of celebrating what’s right? For years, that was me. If something didn’t go as planned, it would consume my thoughts. I could have a hundred things going well, but one small problem would grab my attention and pull me down. But…
-
Yaakov’s Unique Brachot: More Than Just Good Wishes This week’s parsha, Vayechi, is packed with powerful moments, and one of the most striking is Yaakov giving brachot to his children. But if you read through the brachot carefully, you might notice something surprising: they don’t all sound like blessings. When we think of giving a…
-
Yosef’s story is one of the most incredible examples of emunah (faith) and bitachon (trust) in Hashem’s plan. Despite everything he went through—being betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused, and thrown into prison—he never lost sight of the bigger picture. Yosef understood that every moment of his life, no matter how painful…
-
This week’s parsha, Vayigash, brings us to one of the most emotional moments in the Torah: Yehuda’s heartfelt plea to Yosef, culminating in Yosef revealing his identity. But beneath this dramatic scene lies a profound lesson about growth and teshuva. Yosef orchestrated an elaborate plan, placing his brothers in a situation eerily similar to the…
-
Chanuka always seems to fly by, doesn’t it? One moment, we’re excitedly setting up our menorahs and spinning dreidels, and the next, we’re lighting the last candle and realizing it’s all coming to an end. It was fun while it lasted—the lights, the songs, the donuts—but there’s so much more to Chanuka than the celebration…
-
In this week’s parsha, Yosef tests his brothers one final time. After hosting them for a meal and sending them back home with food, he secretly has his silver goblet placed in Binyamin’s bag. When his steward catches up to them and accuses them of theft, the brothers are in shock. They know they’re innocent,…
-
This week’s parsha begins with a dramatic moment: Yosef is rushed out of prison, cleaned up, and brought before Pharaoh. Pharaoh had been troubled by two unsettling dreams. In the first, seven healthy, fat cows emerged from the Nile, only to be devoured by seven thin, sickly cows. In the second dream, seven ripe and…
-
A Personal Storm: When Miracles Seem Impossible A few years ago, a friend of mine faced what seemed like an impossible situation. He had been pouring his heart, soul, and savings into building a brick-and-mortar business. Despite countless challenges along the way, he refused to give up. He leveraged every resource, invested more money, and…
-
At the end of parshat Vayeishev, we find Yosef in jail, interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer and baker. Yosef lived with emuna and bitachon—he trusted that everything Hashem does is for the best, no matter how it looked at the moment. Think about Yosef’s life up to this point. His brothers hated him…
-
Shalom (Peace) is one of Hashem’s names. We conclude our tefillah with a bracha for Shalom and the word Shalom is the final word of the powerful Birkat Kohanim. Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi says in Gemara Taanit Yerushalmi that the whole idea why the Chachamim Set up Eruvei Chatzeirot is for Darchei Shalom, to promote…
